Eurovision 2022: Semi-final running order

Last night, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) announced the running order of both semi-finals.

In the originaly draw of semi-finals, it had already been decided which half a nation would take part in - the opening half or the second half.

In semi-final 1, Albania will open the show and in an interesting decision Armenia will close proceedings.

In semi-final 2, Finland will begin with a bang with Czech Republic closing the show.

Australia performs in slot eight, after San Marino and ahead of Cyprus.

Is eighth a good running order position for Australia?

Looking back at the record of running orders since 2013, slot eight has qualified 69% of the time, which is a very solid record.

In even better news, since 2017, seven of the eight perfomers in that slot have qualified.

These include Daði og Gagnamagnið, Elena Tsagrinou from Cyprus and John Lundvik from Sweden. While some artists who were less assured a qualifying spot, Waylon from Netherlands and Zena from Belarus, got through from there.

So, overall things look promising for Australia but until we see all live performances, it will be very hard to tell how much running order will impact chances.

The semi-finals of Eurovision 2022 will take place on Tuesday 10 May and Thursday 12 May in Turin.